The Albany man whose robbery conviction as a teenager helped spur the “Raise the Age” movement in Albany was sentenced on Friday to 9 years in prison on a weapons charge.

Marquis Dixon, 27, pleaded guilty in October to criminal possession of a weapon just as his trial was about to start. He was arrested on June, 20, 2023, after police said he illegally possessed a handgun in the area of 256 Clinton Ave. Officers were responding to a report of a man with a gun on Orange and Dove Streets. He ran away from officers before they took him into custody, according to police.

The June arrest happened a month after Dixon, who has been in and out of jail since 2016, was released from prison. He was convicted of robbery as a 16-year-old for stealing a pair of sneakers and sentenced to 9 years in prison.

However, an appellate judge reduced that sentence. Dixon’s case prompted to raise the age in which teenagers were charged as adults.